Vinnage Abroad: The Cooler Cousin of Tradition and Heritage

Vincent Greathouse will launch his new menswear brand during a runway segment at Color of Fashion Season VI

Menswear has told the story of Black excellence before. But there has yet to be a fashion brand that defines the duality of refined taste and cultural depth in the same garment, like Vincent Greathouse is doing with the debut of his brand, Vinnage Abroad. 

With Color of Fashion Season VI as the soft launch, Greathouse is making the runway the setting for Vinnage Abroad, which stands for “Vintage and New Age,” to be experienced for the first time. 

“What I wanted to do is showcase travel, music, and all of these things that refine our taste buds,” said Greathouse. “It’s bringing all of those qualities that make us curious while just taking a trip, and putting that into a brand.” 

While he is a designer, Greathouse is not cutting and sewing clothing. Instead, he is visually telling a narrative. Similar to the designers he looks up to like Ralph Lauren, he has an eye for refined and elevated pieces that are meant to fit effortlessly and to feel just as good. 

“Ralph is not just depending on the clothes to necessarily tell a story,” said Greathouse on Ralph Lauren serving as a form of inspiration. Instead, “he is putting the clothes in a scene, while telling people to live in it.”

Greathouse is also the brains behind the Vinnage Abroad marketing. His vision has come to life through the way his brand will be presented, from the logo to the look and everything in between. 

“It’s not that we’re doing anything so new with the garments; I think they are and will be very fresh, but I think it’s the way that it is done,” said Greathouse. “We want everything to be purposeful in the way that it’s presented and put on.”

He has dubbed Vinnage Abroad as “the cooler cousin of tradition and heritage” for that very reason. The brand is meant to combine all of the elements of the archetype that Greathouse is, and continues to become. He is bringing forth the narrative behind the Black man who is not just meant for greatness, but who has already found it – his story is just yet to be told. 

“I want it to feel like this brand has been around for 100 years,” Greathouse confessed. “This is our version of the renaissance. It’s time for gentlemen to not be boxed in anymore.”

That’s the beauty of fashion, and especially a brand focused on menswear. While launching a brand is all about finding a niche that is innovative, it’s also important for the clothes to be wearable. Not only will Vinnage Abroad be defined by wearability and functionality, but each piece will also bring a story to life, regardless of the wearer. 

THE INSPIRATION

With an entrepreneurial spirit starting early on, Greathouse launched his first clothing brand at 16 years old in Alabama. 

Called HYST Clothing, it stood for “His or Hers Young Successful Tribe.” The collection consisted of hats and simple graphic tees for HBCUs in the area. 

He went on to sign with Wilhelmina as a model when he moved to Colorado. At the same time, Greathouse continued to write down his ideas and was inspired by his older brother, who was learning how to cut and sew. As the two supported each other in their endeavors, “we are able to stand out and also come together when it’s needed,” said Greathouse. 

“I think we both influence each other in a way where it’s like ‘iron sharpens iron,’” he added, reflecting on his relationship with his brother. 

In addition to gaining inspiration from his support system, Greathouse has always been someone who remains curious about not only his surroundings, but the storytelling he digests. From film, literature, fashion and television to everything in between, Greathouse’s creative process is built around curiosity. 

Travel is also a major foundation of Greathouse’s inspiration. 

“I am very much a kid who has had his Passport stamped from age 11,” he shared. Various travels have served as a starting point for how he views the world around him, with nods to the media he loves tying into how he observes culture and humanity. 

To Greathouse, observing how people dress around the world opens his access to other cultures, and shines a light on how appearance serves as a gateway into both our individual and collective experience. 

Fencing is also a major inspiration for Greathouse, with the sport remaining at the core of the Vinnage Abroad aesthetic. 

Greathouse created a campaign video that will coincide with the launch of the brand that showcases the story behind a fencer. Called “The Dual Within,” the goal is to bring forward the energy that often comes from football to fencing. 

In a sport that is all about outwitting your opponent, fencing is often overlooked by society. The lifestyle and the atmosphere of a fencer aligns with the Vinnage Abroad gentleman, who may not be considered the standard athlete or jock, but is just as present as the personas that we already know and love. 

In showcasing that this atmosphere is tangible and represents real people among us, Greathouse is proving that representation does not have to fall within a certain category, especially when it comes to Black excellence. 

“This is for those people who feel like they can’t, [just because] the representation shows ‘this is where I need to be at,’” said Greathouse. 

In expanding the representation of the Black man, Greathouse is bringing his own dreams to life while carrying on a legacy that expands beyond Colorado. 

“I can dream, I can be anything I want to be, and there’s no label and no color on it; there’s nobody telling me that I can’t,” he shared. “Growing up in a place like Alabama, you have to be thinking like that, or you get stuck.” 

As an avid suit wearer since the age of four, Greathouse is no stranger to tying a tie or a bowtie. However, he is constantly finding new ways to elevate the styles that seem traditional. With that sense of taking risks at the core of Vinnage Abroad, he combines the stories behind traditional fashion and the iconic men that he has always looked up to, and brings a new life to his style. 

By letting inspiration craft his style in an authentic way, Greathouse’s brand was born. 

THE VINNAGE ABROAD GENTLEMAN

“When I get dressed, it’s very purposeful. I love to tell a story behind a garment and why it’s worn that way,” said Greathouse. 

He often gravitates towards the preppy style, defined by an ‘Ivy League aesthetic’ which is a major pillar of Vinnage Abroad. 

“Really what that means is heritage, and being able to tell that through a different lens,” said Greathouse. “It’s telling the story of Black excellence that I don’t feel like has ever been told before.” 

The Vinnage Abroad gentleman appreciates a loafer, but he gravitates towards a sneaker too. It’s a gentleman who is multifaceted, and often his look is one layer that reveals depth beneath the surface. 

Greathouse describes the Vinnage Abroad man as if a refined gentleman like Carlton Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was in the same room as legendary rapper Tupac Shakur. “What would that conversation sound like?” Greathouse questioned. 

“If Carlton had the personality of Tupac, I would say that is the ideal audience. Somebody who has an appreciation for the finer things.”

“Getting dressed doesn’t just mean we’re going to put on basketball shorts and a tee. No, we’re putting on basketball shorts with a refined structuring and tapering on it. Then we might do a hard bottom instead of just a sneaker.” 

Vinnage Abroad was built to cater to the man whose confidence exudes in how he presents himself to the world. His multifaceted nature transcends the box that Black men have been expected to fit in for decades.

THE HISTORY

Greathouse is launching the brand by telling the story of the “dual within.” 

Along with heritage, Vinnage Abroad is a “cultural storytelling of being passed a legacy, and how to live up to greatness. To fill those shoes,” shared Greathouse. 

With sweatsuits and graphic tees meant to have a heavier weight and to feel more luxurious and fashion-forward, the story is also very prevalent in the garment. 

“A lot of the times when we say Black excellence, we are capturing an aesthetic of what rappers portray in videos, the things like that that are not necessarily true elegance, or true luxury at its finest,” said Greathouse. “But the biggest part for me is to tell that story through a lens that hasn’t been told before.” 

“It’s removing the veil in a way, and actually showing when access is granted,” he said. “I want to tell that aristocratic history and give it that new spin.” 

With heritage at his foundation, Greathouse’s love for fashion is in part tied to his grandmother’s work as a seamstress. His mother was born in Selma, Alabama, in 1968. That was the year Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, and followed the marching of activists demanding the right for Black people to vote in 1965. 

The number 1968 appears on several Vinnage Abroad pieces. “That’s paying homage to not only my parents, but to also showcase the importance of when I really felt like we were able to start collectively coming together, in a way.” 

That’s why building this brand is reminding Greathouse of the importance of “being able to have access granted because we finally got access,” he said.  

“There are people in my family that were not afforded the opportunities that I had. To be able to travel, to be able to shoot this campaign… If everything goes right, I can pass this onto my family, and I can give them something to be proud of,” he shared. 

THE FEELING

As he’s building the brand, Greathouse continues to hear from the organizations and individuals that he is working with that “this has never been done before.” From the team behind venue for his recent campaign shoot to the models who will be wearing his pieces at Color of Fashion, the overall sentiment is how transformational Vinnage Abroad truly is. 

“It scares me, but at the same time, it’s good because this story needs to be told,” said Greathouse. 

More often than not, society places emphasis on Black excellence in an isolated way. While society tends to remain in the comfort of what they think they know, there are layers to uncover.

Vinnage Abroad is revealing the layers through fashion by proving “that taste can balance itself. You can have an appreciation for both if you allow worlds to collide and blend how they’re supposed to,” said Greathouse.